May 13, 2013 The day after Mother's Day

We got to SKYPE with Elder Barker yesterday.  It was so great! It was all that I hoped for and more.  He has been out 5 months, and this is the first time we've really got to chat for more than 5 minutes.  It made me miss him a little more, but at the same time I feel like it was some fuel to get through until Christmas!

Mother, 

You are honestly incredible. I hope that Mother´s Day was wonderful. I didn´t express my feelings well enough yesterday that you are the best Mom in the world. I love you so much and sometimes don´t feel like I deserve you. You are truly amazing. Thank you for everything. Thank you for the love and the support, the letters and packages and especially the prayers. You don´t have to worry about us missionaries getting discouraged. We are truly blessed when we do the Lord´s work, and I have seen great blessings already in my life. I´ve already learned and grown a lot. 

     Sorry, if the phone call wasn´t all you´d hoped it would be. I was kind of lame and couldn´t think of a whole lot to tell you guys. For me it was awesome just to see your faces. I love you all so much. Seriously, I´m so blessed to have the siblings and parents I have. It gives me strength to know I have you rooting for me back home. Tell Zoe that I need her, too! ;)

     I´m really excited for this week. We´re teaching some great people and the ward is really excited about missionary work right now. We´re going to have a lot of lessons with members this week, it´s going to be great. One man that we´re helping right now is named Nilson. He has cancer right now and he´s not in super good shape. He´s had all the missionary lessons before, his wife is a convert and one of his daughters, too. One day his wife called and said that he wants to be baptized. It was a testament to me that all missionary work is important. The missionaries that worked with him in the past helped prepare him to be baptized in the future. It doesn´t always happen all at once. (It also helps that he can´t smoke or drink coffee now). But he´ll probably be baptized this week, or next.

     Work to improve the missionary work in Evanston. I don´t know the missionaries there, but try to help them out. Pray and give them referrals of the people you feel are prepared for the gospel. 

      Eu sei que Jesus Cristo vive. A igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias é o reino do Senhor na Terra. Eu amo meu Salvador. Eu sei que a Expiação de Jesus Cristo é real. Nos podemos viver com nossa família para eternidade. Sou muito grato por isso. Eu amo vocês!

Elder Barker

May 6, 2013

Hello Everyone!

Another week has come and gone. Crazy how that goes. This picture is of our baptism on Saturday. Vitor is 13, but he looks like he´s 16. He´s seriously amazing. He´s so solid and can´t wait to serve a mission one day. His step dad, Milton, is next to me. He´s inactive, but a super good guy. His mom is on the left. She was very skeptical at first, but the more we talk with her, the more she wants to know. It won´t be long until she´s dressed in white and Milton is active again ;). They´re feeding us lunch sometime this week. In front is Marcelo. He´s a member in the ward, great guy. It was definitely a special experience. Victoria (also 13) was baptized as well, along with her 8 year old brother. Their dad baptized them and that was really cool too. Victoria just never had a desire to be baptized before, and decided last week that she wanted to be baptized with her brother. We taught her all the lessons in like four days. 

Debora and Bruno still didn´t come to church, chato. But we´re still working with them and I think they´ll come around. I´m excited for Mother´s Day, and I think 100 o´clock your time will work perfectly. I´ll Skype from Guilherme´s house, so it´ll all be good ;)

Love you all! Thanks for the support and love.

Elder Barker

 

 

 

April 29, 2013

Bom dia!

Cipó is still Sião. I see miracles everyday, I just have to look for them. One of our investigators, here name is Debora, was really progressing, but we just couldn´t get her to church because she had to work every Sunday. It was just sad because her and her boyfriend are both really interested, but could never come on Sundays. Well we passed by last night and she got fired! She´s not super excited about it, but I know that it was a blessing. Bruno is her boyfriend and they have a three year old daughter. They said they´ll be coming to church this Sunday, we´re super excited for them.

One more cool story. We were walking up one of our huge hills in Cipó on our way to visit a recent convert (Gideyuma), and I had an impression that we should stop and knock one door (except for it´s really clap at one gate). Well it turns out that a family of four lives there and we´re teaching them now. Tais is the one that came to the door and she´s the most interested. She´s 19 and asks some really hard questions, but it´s really good. Anyway, after the first lesson when we were walking away, Elder Ribeiro said that he had had the same feeling to stop at that house with his companion before, but never did. It was a confirmation to me that as long as we´re in tune with the Spirit the Lord will guide the work.

Oh, for Mother´s Day you need to let me know if you want to Skype or just talk on the phone. Next week, tell me what Number or Skype to use and what time you want me to call and all that good stuff :) I think I´m three hours ahead, right? We get one hour to talk, so anytime after noon is good for me.

We´re still working with Victor. He stopped drinking coffee and is still really solid. He has a strong testimony. For some reason his parents are still a little resistent, but the Bishop talked with his step dad (Inactive) and I think he´s going to allow Victor to be baptized this weekend. We´re excited for him.

The food is still super good. I don´t know if you´ve ever heard of Feijoada, but the Brazilian women make good use of almost every part of the Pig. It´s really good, you just have to be careful to not eat the bad stuff. I love the fruit here too! The bananas taste like banana Creamies and the help my legs not cramp up, so I eat a lot of them.

Anyway, I love you all! I have a strong testimony that the Lord knows us personally and he is looking out for us.

Love, Elder Barker

(President Pinho as been dropping some PMA quotes on us from Napoleon Hill. He´s Awesome)

 

Monday April 22, 2013

 

Hello!

So...

I totally forgot to tell you about the Temple. It was beautiful, and the inside is even cooler. It was an awesome trip. We went to Wal-mart too, so that was kind of cool/ strange.

We are doing very well. We have two baptisms planned this weekend, Tiago and Victor, but we´ll see what happens. Victor´s parents want him to wait a while, so I don´t know.

We helped carry a Drunk guy off the street yesterday. He was sprawled out Spread Eagle in the middle of the road. It was pretty crazy.

We have some great people preparing for baptism right now! The work is going very well. Transfers tomorrow, but we~re both staying in Cipó. Love you all! I have a testimony that the Lord is looking out for us at all times! Ate Logo! (mother´s day three weeks!)

Elder Barker

 

 

 

 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Opa everyone! 

Life is as great as ever in Cipó. Life really is so good. Courtney wrote me and said that with the kind of family we have She´s excited for eternity. Man, I love her. I couldn´t agree more. We are extremely blessed. 

Thanks for the update on everything. Sounds like things are going pretty well. I´m really glad to hear that Nathan Anderson is doing alright. That´s so scary. The Lord was definitely looking out for him. 

Track going well? I wish I would have enjoyed it more. Looking back on it, they really are some good times, even running 400s.

I´m trying to send pictures, but it´s really difficult, so we´ll see.

And mom, will you save my emails? My teacher in the MTC said that he´s really glad he has them to look back on, like a second journal.

Anyway, the work is going well. There are amazing people here. We have a baptism set on Sunday for Victor (13). He´s really awesome. His step-father is an in-active former bishop/counselor in the Stake President. He´s been in-active for years. Sounds like you dad, except for the falling away from the church part. You´re not allowed to do that. Anyway Victor is really solid. He´s reading the Book of Mormon and Praying every night. We´re just praying that his family won´t keep him from being baptized. Also teaching a great family right now with a member of the ward. The member´s name is Jefferson Santana and he´s super solid. The family lives right next to him and he comes with us to the lessons. I´ll keep you up dated.

I miss everyone, but probably Zoe the most... ;) So I´m glad you´re recording some things!

Love you all, My testimony is getting stronger everyday. Here´s something I learned this week, Studying the Scriptures gives us Spiritual Strength. Simple, but so true. Romans 12:21

Love, Elder Barker

 

Chocolate stuffed crust pizza. America could learn a few things.

And I can´t wait for the package! 

 

Happy B-day to jim and stock!

Monday, April 8, 2013

 

Hi Everyone!

Thank you so much for writing me, everyone. You don´t know how nice it is to here from each of you. Sounds like Spring Break and the cruise and everything were a blast! I wish I had more time to write back to everyone, but we only get a limited time. Today isn´t P-Day, we just get to email. P-day is Friday because we get to go to the temple! I´m so stoked. The only bad thing is we have to use 50 Reais for travel this week. For District Meeting, Interviews with the President, and the temple, but it´ll be worth it. The buses here are nuts. It´s pretty exciting. Conferencia was awesome! Even though I only understood about half or less than half I still feel refreshed, happy, and excited for the future. Those men are truly called of God and if you listen to them you can´t deny it. I was curious if L. Tom Perry broke any rules with his visual aid? Did the other brethren not tell him about the letter they sent out. JK. But seriously every talk was really really good. I can´t wait to read them next month. I heard the word luz a lot. (light). And I´ve been studying in my scriptures a little bit about truth and light lately, it´s pretty interesting if you want something to study. Jesus Christ is our beloved Savior. He is the Life and the Light of the World. He is also our older brother and our friend. I´m eternally grateful for him.

I was wondering if anyone has contact with Brother Leifson... I want to say that he told me he served in Cipó too, but maybe not. Somebody should ask him. Oh, mom if you haven´t sent the package yet, my companion´s birthday is coming up at the end of Abril and I thought you could send him something. He loves soccer, so if you can get your hands on a cheap jersey or t-shirt, Real Salt Lake or USA team, he´d love it. If not no worries! He also loves Reese´s, Beef Jerkey, and Peanut Butter so any of those things would work. Ooohh, maybe some gray socks too, if you have time. It´s really not urgent. Elder Watson told me he just got a package from his mom that she sent in June, so hopefully a little bit faster than that :) 

I wish I had time to tell you all the incredible things that have happened...

We had a an 11 year old boy named Gustavo tell us that he wants to be baptized. He is amazing, I don´t know any 11 year old boys like him. You should see the light in his eyes, from the time he started talking with us and reading the book of mormon and pamphlets. Seriously Incredible. Love you all. I have to go!

 

 

Elder Barker, Elder Ribeiro, and a member in the ward who often goes on splits with them.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Hello Family!

I am doing very well in Cipó. There is a lot of good stuff going on here. Pascoa was really great. They don´t do Easter Eggs, but there was still a lot of chocolate. They have what´s called Brigadeiro here. It´s so good, it´s like pudding, but 10 times better. I had one of the best meals of my life yesterday. The members feed us so good. We have an Almoço appointment everyday except for P-day. We eat at noon everyday and dinner isn´t very big here, so we have to wait til we get back to the casa everynight to eat. That was hard to get used to, but it´s just normal now. My companion works really hard, he´s a really good guy. The ward is great, we always have people willing to come out with us on splits. It´s a lot different than Cleveland, but still the same work. The people are just super receptive which is great. The hard part is getting them to commit to something like coming to church. We met a great guy named Tiago last night. He´s 18 and was on his way to church I think. He is looking for the truth, and we can give that to him ;). We´re excited to meet with him again on Thursday. We set a baptismal date for the 27 of April and just need to help him work toward that date. We had our Trainee/Trainer meeting last week, which was really good. President Pinho is really a great guy. This mission is really a great one to be a part of. I got to see my MTC companions last week, which was really cool. They´re both doing well! Sorry no pictures again this week, I need to get my hands on an SD Card reader. Keep sending me pictures though, I love to see what´s going on. I know I said Email was easiest, and it is, but we only have a limited time on the computer, so sometimes I can´t reply to everyone. Hmmm the food here rocks. People said rice and beans everyday like it was a bad thing. The rice and beans here are awesome. I eat like a King everyday (for at least one meal). You have the mission home address I think (Kenzee asked).

We have a great opportunity to watch general conference this week! Take advantage of it. Our prophet and apostles were called of God. It]s going to be great! LOVE you.

Elder Barker

Response to Jesse's letter......

Hey bro. Love you. You are the MAN, or CARA in Portuguese. I have so much respect for you man. BE happy. Life is so good and we are all extremely blessed.